Ruth 4:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

Ten men— This number of witnesses, it seems, was necessary for the ratification of marriages, divorces, and the conveyance of right and property. See More Nevoch. pars 3: cap. 49: and Bertram de Rep. Jud. cap. 9: Boaz, in representing the distress to which Naomi, the sister of their brother, 1:e. their common relation, found herself reduced after her return from Moab, tells the kinsman, that, in order to supply her present necessities, she designed to sell the parcel of land which belonged to Elimelech; and that she had a right to do so, in such a state of necessity, is supposed by the best writers on this subject. See Selden de Success. in Bonis, cap. 15: p. 52.

Ruth 4:2

2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.